Forms of cricket

From Cricipedia

On the international cricket circuit there are three main forms of cricket. These forms are Test, One Day International and Twenty 20 International.

Test match cricket is played over five days and includes two innings per side which have no set length. Each side contains 11 players and there are no fielding restrictions. Test cricket is played by the ten test playing nations: England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

One Day Internationals (ODIs) are a 50 over per side affair. However these matches have fielding restrictions. These matches are played with all international teams including the ICC confederates and partners as well as the Test playing nations. The side that wins is the one who scores the most runs.

Twenty20 International (T20Is) are 20 over per side. This is a newly introduced form of the game and it has started to take over cricket. The first World Cup was won by India largely thanks to Yuvraj Singh and the second by Pakistan with Shahid Afridi being man of the match in both semi-final and final. As with ODIs the team with the most runs wins.

English domestic

On the domestic circuit in England there are also three forms of the game. These are first-class cricket, List A and Twenty20.

First-class is extremely similar to Test cricket but it is contested over four days, with two innings per side. The English County Championship is sponsored by LV insurance.

From 2010 there is only one form of List A cricket, these are 40 overs per side matches. The 40 over competition is sponsored by Clydesdale Bank and is divided into three groups followed by semi-finals and final.

The Twenty20 tournament has expanded rapidly since it's inception in 2003 with each team playing 16 matches in 2010. It is sponsored by Friends Provident.